This invention relates to oral health care implements and systems, particularly relating to improved toothbrushes utilizing new technologies for the dental field. In particular, the invention relates to the vital sign monitoring capabilities of both manual and electric toothbrushes.
Vital sign monitoring offers a long standing method of measuring the overall health of a patient. Vital signs most often include body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and blood oxygen saturation. Effective monitoring of these bodily statistics allows for detection of overall health and diagnostic indicators of physiological disease states. The present invention offers solutions for the monitoring of two vital signs, which are blood oxygen saturation and heart rate. The present invention further offers the monitoring of these vital signs in an implement that is presently common for everyday use to the majority of potential users.
The present invention aims to provide the monitoring of these vital signs in an oral health implement that is utilized in many peoples' everyday routines. A common oral health implement is a toothbrush. A toothbrush is recommended for use twice daily, thus making it ideal for daily monitoring of vital signs. Integration of a networked system for the transmission and access of vital sign data allows medical practitioners to monitor patients as a means for early prevention of certain physiological conditions.
An ideal method for monitoring blood oxygen saturation and heart rate is photoplethysmography, more commonly referred to as pulse oximetry. The principle of pulse oximetry is based on the red and infrared light absorption characteristics of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin, where oxygenated hemoglobin absorbs more infrared light and deoxygenated hemoglobin absorbs more red light. Light absorption occurs in various stages including constant light absorption due to tissue and bone, constant light absorption due to venous blood, constant light absorption due to non-pulsatile arterial blood, and variable light absorption due to pulsatile volume of arterial blood. The absorption stage of interest in most cases is the variable light absorption due to pulsatile volume of arterial blood. The heart rate is determined by the frequency of the peaks that indicate surges of blood volume due to heart beats. The variable light absorption is often further utilized to measure blood oxygen saturation.
Consequently, medical practitioners are in need of an adequate means to monitor the vital signs of patients as early stage detection of physiological conditions. Moreover, patients are in need of a convenient method of vital sign data collection that does not greatly affect their daily routine. Consequently, a convenient method of measuring and monitoring vital signs such as blood oxygen saturation and heart rate is desirable for both medical practitioners and patients.